Page 25 of Claws for Celebration (Hollow Oak Mates #3)

LUCIEN

L ucien's phone buzzed against his chest as he coordinated with the patrol teams checking Hollow Oak's perimeter defenses. Moira's name on the caller ID made him answer immediately, her urgent tone cutting through his tactical assessment of vampire movement patterns.

"I need you here. Now," she said without preamble, a tremble in her voice that made his panther pace with concern.

"What's wrong?" he asked, already moving toward the bookstore with the swift grace that had kept him alive through countless supernatural crises.

"The grimoire. It's showing me things, Lucien. Terrible things about what's really happening. It’s like I’ve been ignoring the subtext." Her breathing sounded unsteady, as if she was fighting panic. "I think we've been wrong about everything."

"I'll be there in two minutes," he promised, ending the call as he broke into a run that carried him through Hollow Oak's quiet streets faster than human speed should have allowed.

He found Moira standing over the open Shadowheart Codex, her face pale with horror as she stared at text that seemed to writhe across the ancient pages like living things.

The golden protective barriers she'd woven around the bookstore flickered erratically, responding to her emotional distress with unstable surges of power.

"Talk to me," he said, settling beside her chair with careful movements that wouldn't startle her further. "What did it show you?"

"Look," she whispered, pointing to script that appeared even as he watched. "Read what it's really been teaching me."

Lucien leaned closer, his enhanced vision making out words that made his blood turn to ice in his veins.

The Convergence of Blood and Shadow

When Shadowheart power reaches its destined zenith, the barriers woven by desperate sacrifice shall recognize the bloodline's true calling. What was bound in darkness awaits the key that only inherited magic can turn.

"This doesn't sound like protection magic," Lucien said slowly, dread building in his chest as he read further.

The granddaughter's awakening follows the path carved by ancient necessity. Each lesson learned, each bond forged, each moment of magical unity brings closer the completion of what began three centuries past. The prisoner dreams of freedom, and his dreams shape the very spells meant to contain him.

Moira's hands shook as she turned the page, revealing more cryptic text. "Lucien, I think I've been reading this wrong the whole time. Look at this passage about my ancestor."

Seraphina's binding was never meant to last forever. The sacrifice bought time, nothing more. A lock requires a key, and the key must come from the same blood that forged the prison. The descendant who achieves full mastery becomes the instrument of release, whether she wills it or not.

"The grimoire hasn't been teaching you to strengthen the wards," Lucien realized with growing horror. "It's been preparing you to break them."

Eleven days until the optimal convergence. The bloodline power grows strong, guided by bonds of heart and magic toward its destined purpose. What sleeps in shadow stirs, sensing the approach of liberation after centuries of patient waiting.

"The Convergence," Moira said, her voice barely audible. "It's not just when the barriers between realms grow thin. It's when my bloodline magic becomes the key to something Seraphina bound, not protected."

"Something that's been influencing your magical development through the grimoire," Lucien added, pieces clicking together with sickening clarity. "Every spell it taught you, every technique that felt so natural, all of it designed to bring you to the exact power level needed to..."

"To become the key that unlocks whatever prison my ancestor created." Moira's voice cracked with the weight of understanding. "The grimoire hasn't been helping me protect Hollow Oak. It's been grooming me to destroy it."

Every moment of pride he'd felt watching Moira master her abilities, every time he'd encouraged her to embrace her heritage, every magical breakthrough that had brought them closer together as mates, all of it had been steering them toward catastrophe.

"I've been helping it," he said, horrified realization making his voice rough.

"Every time I told you to trust your instincts, every time I supported your magical training, every time our mate bond stabilized your power long enough for you to learn advanced techniques.

I've been helping this thing manipulate you toward freeing an ancient evil. "

"You didn't know," Moira said quickly, reaching for his hand with fingers that trembled. "None of us knew. The grimoire has been incredibly subtle, making everything seem like natural awakening when it was actually precise manipulation."

But Lucien barely heard her reassurance, his tactical mind already processing the brutal mathematics of their situation.

Eleven days to prevent supernatural apocalypse.

A mate whose magical development had been accelerated beyond anything normal awakening should achieve.

A grimoire that had been playing a centuries-long game with stakes that involved the survival of human civilization.

"There's only one solution," he said, the words tasting like ashes in his mouth.

"What?"

"We have to stop your magical development.

Immediately. Completely." Lucien looked into her brown eyes, memorizing their warmth before he destroyed everything beautiful they'd built together.

"If your power can't reach the threshold needed to break Seraphina's binding, whatever she bound stays locked away. "

"But how do we stop magical awakening that's already in progress?"

"By removing the emotional and physical connections that have been accelerating it." Each word felt like driving a knife into his own chest. "The mate bond has been amplifying your abilities exponentially. Without that magical feedback loop, your development should slow to manageable levels."

Understanding dawned in Moira's expression, followed immediately by pain that made his panther whine with distress. "You're talking about ending our relationship."

"I'm talking about saving the world," he replied, forcing his voice to remain steady despite the way his heart was breaking.

"Moira, if we're wrong, if there's any chance that our connection is what pushes your power over the threshold needed to free this evil, then staying together becomes the most selfish thing either of us could do. "

"There has to be another way," she said desperately. "Some method of controlling my power that doesn't require sacrificing everything we've found together."

"Maybe. But we don't have time to find it.

" Lucien stood from his chair, already feeling the mate bond stretch painfully as he prepared to do the hardest thing he'd ever attempted.

"Eleven days, Moira. If we're wrong about this, if continuing our relationship accidentally triggers the apocalypse, how many people die because we chose love over duty? "

"And if we're wrong about separating? If breaking our bond destabilizes my magic in ways that make the situation worse rather than better?"

"Then at least we'll know we tried everything possible to prevent catastrophe."

The logic was sound, even if it felt like tearing his soul in half.

But as Lucien looked around the bookstore that had become their sanctuary, at the woman who'd become his entire world in the space of two weeks, at the evidence of magical manipulation that had been guiding them toward disaster from the very beginning, he knew there was no choice that wouldn't involve devastating sacrifice.

"I can't do this," Moira said, tears gathering in her eyes. "I can't lose you. Not when I've just figured out who I'm supposed to be."

"You're supposed to be the woman strong enough to save the world," Lucien replied gently, though every word felt like bleeding. "Even if saving it means giving up everything you want most."

"What if you're wrong? What if the mate bond isn't accelerating my magical development but actually helping me control it?"

"Then we'll have made a terrible mistake that we'll both have to live with forever. But if the grimoire is pushing us to be together and this is its true agenda? Then it’s a safer bet for us to not encourage the bond.

" Lucien moved toward the bookstore's front door, knowing that if he hesitated any longer, he'd lose the strength necessary to leave her.

"But if I'm right, if our connection is what tips your power over the edge into apocalyptic territory, then this is the only choice that doesn't make us responsible for the end of human civilization. "

"Lucien, please," Moira called after him, her voice breaking with desperation that made his panther claw frantically at his control. "Don't do this. Don't leave me to face this alone."

"You won't be alone," he said without turning around, afraid that seeing her face would shatter his resolve completely.

"The Council will protect you. The other witches will continue your training at a safer pace.

And I'll be close enough to help if the vampires or shadow creatures make another move. "

"But you won't be with me."

"No," he admitted, his hand on the door handle as he prepared to walk away from the only woman he'd ever love. "I won't be with you. Because sometimes loving someone means choosing their survival over your own happiness."

As Lucien stepped into the Hollow Oak night, leaving behind the woman who carried his heart and possibly the fate of the world, he tried to tell himself that he was making the right choice.

But the sound of Moira's quiet sob following him into the darkness suggested that right and wrong had become meaningless concepts in the face of impossible decisions and the crushing weight of consequences that could destroy everything they'd both come to cherish.

His panther howled silently at the forced separation from their mate, but Lucien ignored the animal's distress as he disappeared into the shadows that had always been his refuge.

Some sacrifices were too important to avoid, even when they felt like dying.